In the summer of 1930, Lorenzo Johnston Greene, a graduate of Howard University and a doctoral candidate at Columbia University, became a book agent for the man with the undisputed title of "Father of Negro History," Carter G. Woodson. With little more than determination, Greene, along with four Howard University students, traveled throughout the South and Southeast selling books published by Woodson's Associated Publishers. Their dual purpose was to provide needed funds for the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and to promote the study of African American history. Greene returned east by way of Chicago, and, for a time, he settled in Philadelphia, selling books there and in the nearby cities of Delaware and New Jersey. He left Philadelphia in 1931 to conduct a survey in Washington, D.C., of firms employing and not employing black workers.

From 1930 until 1933, when Greene began teaching at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, Selling Black History for Carter G. Woodson provides a unique firsthand account of conditions in African American communities during the Great Depression. Greene describes in the diary, often in lyrical terms, the places and people he visited. He provides poignant descriptions of what was happening to black professional and business people, plus working-class people, along with details of high school facilities, churches, black business enterprises, housing, and general conditions in communities. Greene also gives revealing accounts of how the black colleges were faring in 1930.

Selling Black History for Carter G. Woodson offers important glimpses into the private thoughts of a young man of the 1930s, a developing intellectual and scholar. Greene's diary also provides invaluable insights into the personality of Carter Woodson that are not otherwise available. This fascinating and comprehensive view of black America during the early thirties will be a welcome addition to African American studies.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

About the Editor: Arvarh E. Strickland is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has numerous books to his credit, including his introduction to and edition of Working with Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Black History: A Diary, 1928-1930 by Lorenzo J. Greene.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Editor's Acknowledgments

Editor's Introduction: Serving the "Cause"

1. Planning the Bookselling Campaign: A Reminiscence

2. We Go to Hampton and Suffolk

3. Canvassing in North Carolina

4. More Canvassing in North Carolina

5. The Journey to Atlanta: Western North Carolina, South Carolina, and Beautiful Tennessee

6. Alabama and Arkansas

7. Going to Texas: Hot Springs, Arkansas, to Marshall, Texas

8. Texas: On to Dallas, Waco, Austin, and Houston

9. Texas: Houston

10. Texas: Completing the Canvass

11. Oklahoma

12. En Route to Chicago

13. Hard Times in Chicago

14. Return to Washington and the Cleveland Convention

15. Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey

16. At Home in Connecticut: A Working Interlude

17. Back to Philadelphia

18. Still in Philadelphia

19. Philadelphia and Vicinity: Work and Leisure

20. Final Days in Philadelphia

21. Washington: Preparing to Survey Negro Employment

22. Washington: Surveying Negro Employment

23. Washington: Continuing the Survey

24. Washington: Completing the Survey

25. In Retrospect

26. Third Summer Selling Trek

27. Back in New York City

28. First Days at Lincoln University

Appendix: Three Poems by Lorenzo J. Greene

Editor's Bibliography

Index

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In the summer of 1930, Lorenzo Johnston Greene, a graduate of Howard University and a doctoral candidate at Columbia University, became a book agent for the man with the undisputed title of "Father of Negro History," Carter G. Woodson. With little more than determination, Greene, along with four Howard University students, traveled throughout the South and Southeast selling books published by Woodson's Associated Publishers. Their dual purpose was to provide needed funds for the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and to promote the study of African American history. Greene returned east by way of Chicago, and, for a time, he settled in Philadelphia, selling books there and in the nearby cities of Delaware and New Jersey. He left Philadelphia in 1931 to conduct a survey in Washington, D.C., of firms employing and not employing black workers.

From 1930 until 1933, when Greene began teaching at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, Selling Black History for Carter G. Woodson provides a unique firsthand account of conditions in African American communities during the Great Depression. Greene describes in the diary, often in lyrical terms, the places and people he visited. He provides poignant descriptions of what was happening to black professional and business people, plus working-class people, along with details of high school facilities, churches, black business enterprises, housing, and general conditions in communities. Greene also gives revealing accounts of how the black colleges were faring in 1930.

Selling Black History for Carter G. Woodson offers important glimpses into the private thoughts of a young man of the 1930s, a developing intellectual and scholar. Greene's diary also provides invaluable insights into the personality of Carter Woodson that are not otherwise available. This fascinating and comprehensive view of black America during the early thirties will be a welcome addition to African American studies.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

About the Editor: Arvarh E. Strickland is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has numerous books to his credit, including his introduction to and edition of Working with Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Black History: A Diary, 1928-1930 by Lorenzo J. Greene.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Editor's Acknowledgments

Editor's Introduction: Serving the "Cause"

1. Planning the Bookselling Campaign: A Reminiscence

2. We Go to Hampton and Suffolk

3. Canvassing in North Carolina

4. More Canvassing in North Carolina

5. The Journey to Atlanta: Western North Carolina, South Carolina, and Beautiful Tennessee

6. Alabama and Arkansas

7. Going to Texas: Hot Springs, Arkansas, to Marshall, Texas

8. Texas: On to Dallas, Waco, Austin, and Houston

9. Texas: Houston

10. Texas: Completing the Canvass

11. Oklahoma

12. En Route to Chicago

13. Hard Times in Chicago

14. Return to Washington and the Cleveland Convention

15. Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey

16. At Home in Connecticut: A Working Interlude

17. Back to Philadelphia

18. Still in Philadelphia

19. Philadelphia and Vicinity: Work and Leisure

20. Final Days in Philadelphia

21. Washington: Preparing to Survey Negro Employment

22. Washington: Surveying Negro Employment

23. Washington: Continuing the Survey

24. Washington: Completing the Survey

25. In Retrospect

26. Third Summer Selling Trek

27. Back in New York City

28. First Days at Lincoln University

Appendix: Three Poems by Lorenzo J. Greene

Editor's Bibliography

Index

REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE

If you are a student who has a disability that prevents you
from using this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.

Please have the disability coordinator at your school fill out this form.